Eddie Howe warned to think twice before taking Manchester United job – John Barnes | OneFootball

Manchester United are now looking for a new manager and John Barnes has been talking about the possibility of Eddie Howe taking the job at Old Trafford.

Erik ten Hag sacked on Monday, having been bizarrely allowed to spend hundreds of millions more this summer, but results getting even worse.

John Barnes though warning Eddie Howe to think twice before taking the Manchester United job, if/when it is offered.

Dan Ashworth of course worked with Eddie Howe at Newcastle United, so there is that connection.

However, even if offered the job, why would Eddie Howe swap St James’ Park for Old Trafford. The club becoming an even bigger mess under Sir Jim Ratcliffe.

John Barnes asked the question by Lucky Block about the Manchester United job and Eddie Howe:

‘Apparently, Manchester United are keeping tabs on Eddie Howe. If they came in for him, would that be a job opportunity that is too tempting to turn down?’

‘Manchester United are a bigger club than Newcastle United, but if he went there, would things work out better than they have for him at Newcastle United? At least the Newcastle United players will play for him, and I’m not sure you could say with any confidence that that would be the case at Old Trafford.

Will he turn down Man U if they come calling? I think that Eddie would be jumping straight out of the frying pan and into the fire with that if he were to join them. That’s not to say he won’t do it, because the Man U job is something that should appeal to all ambitious managers, but there are obviously at lot of issues at the club at this moment in time.’

‘There have been rumblings of unrest between Eddie Howe and Paul Mitchell. Is that starting to have an impact on results on the pitch?’

‘I’m not close enough to Newcastle United to know whether the relationship between Eddie Howe and Paul Mitchell is impacting results.

However, I have a lot of empathy with Eddie Howe because when Eddie went there, most people expected him to be the gatekeeper until Newcastle signed the best manager in the world and spent hundreds of millions of pounds on new players because they’re owned by the Saudis.

That was what everyone expected, but it hasn’t quite happened. Eddie was much more than a gatekeeper and did really well. He’s still there now.

If you look at the way football is going and the people involved in football, I suspect Newcastle are still looking for a huge name and they may feel that Eddie Howe is not the right man, unfairly and wrongly so in my opinion. Eddie isn’t a sexy name, so I expect these problems to continue between him and hierarchy while he’s in the job.

I think there’s always going to be a situation at Newcastle United where the ambition of the club isn’t realistic, particularly when it doesn’t matter who you’re owned by, you still have financial constraints.